


In Which Young JJ Gets Radiation Sickness From Playing With Golden Geckos

by chaosintheavenue



Series: Whumptober 2020 [1]
Category: Fallout (Video Games)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Blood, Gen, Graphic Depictions of Illness, Illnesses, Radiation Sickness, Vomiting, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:22:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26819500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaosintheavenue/pseuds/chaosintheavenue
Summary: As the title says, really. Written for Whumptober 2020- Day 10 (Internal Bleeding, Blood Loss and Trail of Blood).
Series: Whumptober 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956136
Kudos: 1
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	In Which Young JJ Gets Radiation Sickness From Playing With Golden Geckos

It seems like only moments ago that JJ had rushed into the (thankfully empty) house and frantically tried to scrub off the burning, stinging, sticky gloop that had been unceremoniously spat onto his arm by an _extremely cute_ baby Gecko's unimpressed mother. The red marks on his skin began to fade within an hour, the irritation subsiding along with them, and he'd simply changed into a long-sleeved top for additional parental awareness prevention and assumed that that was the end of it.

By the next afternoon, something was clearly amiss. JJ's stomach took every opportunity to lurch and flip, rendering food out of the question. His eyes demanded to be closed after only ten minutes of reading, his entire head throbbed, and he even felt a little- dare he say it- _Plague-y_.

No, no, no. _That_ was impossible. But the reminder of those days, and in particular the promises he'd been forced to make regarding his health, prompted him to reveal this new illness to his delightfully overprotective parents. To his surprise, neither seemed overly concerned, claiming that it sounded like he had a migraine (this was approximately a hundred times more miserable than any migraine he'd experienced in his life, but... sure), and this time it was them who recommended an early excursion to bed.

A connection to the Gecko incident was the least of his suspicions. He'd meticulously checked his skin for scratches or breaks in case the mysterious glob contained some form of venom, and had come up empty-handed. But the situation had explained itself when he woke up at 4am and barely managed to scramble to his feet before decorating the rug with sick, and then the Geiger counter went tick, and now... ick.

'Ick'. Yes, that's exactly how he feels. He can vaguely tell that the RadAway is starting to kick in- but it needs to work _faster_. The sooner he can get out of this cold, strange-smelling, memory-drenched clinic and back into his warm bed where he belongs, the better.

Well, there might not be much hope of that anyway. Angela has been very interested in his arm ever since she lifted his sleeve to discover the ink-dark purple blotches. His dad's immediate panic over whether he was going to lose his arm provided a spot of much-needed entertainment... right up until she took his concern completely seriously and refused to give a definite answer.

That was about an hour ago, and the general consensus now is that J's arm should remain intact, thank goodness. Still, Angela keeps prodding at it, and the huge dose of RadAway isn't fixing the bruises (part of his brain reminds him that _of course_ it isn't, but he's too groggy to comprehend his own logic). At least they aren't swollen and agonising to touch this time around. _Yet_...

"Will these hurt...?" he has to ask, just as Angela presses her finger right into the centre of the largest splotch. He doesn't feel a thing aside from the pressure... but maybe that isn't a good sign.

"Sorry?" oh, great. She leans down towards him, "Did you say I'm hurting you?"

"No... are the- the bruises going to hurt later?"

A slight grimace, "Shouldn't do. They're going to get worse before they get any better, but I don't _think_ there's any tissue damage underneath. You got lucky, kid."

"Yeah..." he's heard that phrase before, in circumstances that arguably made its use far more justified. But he can't focus on that, or anything aside from her word choices. Funnily enough, Lucky was the name he'd picked for the baby Gecko, mere minutes before its mother had spotted the two playing together and clearly taken offence.

The baby Gecko that he will _absolutely_ be visiting as soon as he's allowed to wander alone again.

...

"Dad-"

The awful tone startles James into full alertness in an instant. At first, he almost expects his reaction to be proven unjustified, as usual- but not tonight. Beside the couch he has taken to sleeping on (out of necessity, after the recent scare dredged open old wounds) stands his son, frighteningly pale even to his unadjusted eyes, with his hands clasped to his face in a desperate attempt to stem the _tide of blood_ -

"What happened?! " he leaps to his feet and grabs hold of the boy's hands, exposing the true scale of the problem. Blood is _pouring_ from his mouth like a waterfall. It's the radiation. It has to be. But... it _can't_ be. He was recovering. Earlier that day, he had even claimed to be fit enough to explore outside the walls for a while. So how-?

Oh.

"You went back to the cave, didn't you?! _Didn't you_?!" is what tumbles out of his mouth as the adrenaline stabs him in the heart. J just makes gurgling noises in response as another torrent of red gushes out, soaking his shirt and the carpet beneath them, but the combination of remorse and terror in his tear-filled eyes speaks for itself. Oh, he did _not_ need to be yelled at, darn it... "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout. Are you- can you breathe?"

"S-Sort of."

"Alright, good. You're going to be fine. Just... let's calm down, okay?"

From the look of J, he needed to be in the clinic several hours ago, but that's hardly an option right now. He's in no state to walk through the streets, and the poor thing will choke on his own blood if he isn't upright. His mother isn't even here to fetch help this time. James admits to himself that he... he doesn't know what to do. Surely reassurance won't hurt, though...

"The... carpet..."

James almost can't believe what he's hearing, "Oh, stuff the _carpet_ , JJ. Just breathe. You're doing so well."

"I'm _never_... g-going out... again."

"You're right there," he can't help but laugh bitterly. JJ may be young, naive, still figuring out how the world works- but it shouldn't take this much trial-and-error to dissuade him from trying to play with radioactive creatures.

Suddenly he's breathing harder and leaning into James's shoulder, "Uh... dizzy."

"Okay, okay," that's James's cue to gently guide him down onto the couch, "Calm down, baby. It's okay. I've got you."

But J doesn't seem any calmer, and his eyes are losing focus. Calling for help from the front door might be James's only option- but at the same time, he can't leave his child in this state, can he?!

"JJ... stay awake, sweetheart. P-Please," his cool, collected impression is rapidly breaking away, "Just- keep talking. Tell me about the Geckos. I bet they're cute, right?"

A shaky nod.

"And what do they do?"

No reply.

"Let's see... do they squeak? Growl?"

Silence.

"J, _please_ talk to me. Can you still breathe?"

Nothing. James jostles him a little to keep him conscious- but he just flops forward like a rag doll, dark blood spilling from his slack mouth at an alarming new rate.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> Also thanks to everyone for putting up with my JJ torment fics in the Fallout (Video Games) tag haha


End file.
